iOS 27 Wireless CarPlay Glitches are a Nightmare
Drivers testing the initial iOS 27 developer beta are warning about severe wireless CarPlay bugs that cause infinite crash loops and broken app menus.
Amazon Just Opened Alexa+ to All Canadians. Here’s What’s Changed
Amazon has launched Alexa+ in Canada, bringing its next-gen AI assistant to Canadians with a significantly more conversational and capable experience than the previous version. Alexa+ first debuted last fall in Canada but was only available in Early Access, but now it’s open to all.
The updated assistant is built on a new large language model and was developed with help from Amazon’s Canadian teams in Toronto and Vancouver. It also now fully supports both English and French.
Early numbers from Amazon’s testing phase are pretty telling: Canadian users engaged with Alexa+ twice as often as the older version, smart home feature usage jumped 60%, and recipe requests went up fivefold.
The big upgrade here is agentic capabilities, meaning the assistant can handle multi-step tasks on your behalf. At launch, Canadians can use it to book restaurant reservations through OpenTable, plan travel via Tripadvisor and Fodor’s, sync school schedules with family calendars, check Ring camera alerts, and get step-by-step cooking guidance. Uber integration is also on the way.
Amazon is rolling out Alexa+ in three tiers. Prime members get unlimited access across all compatible devices, the Alexa app, and a new web interface at Alexa.com at no extra cost. Non-Prime members can access a free text-only version through Alexa.com and the mobile app, but usage limits apply. If you want the full experience without a Prime membership, a standalone unlimited subscription runs $27.99 per month plus tax. You’re better off getting a Prime subscription to get all the Alexa+ benefits plus free shipping on orders.
To upgrade, just say “Alexa, upgrade to Alexa+” or head to Amazon’s dedicated portal.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
Other articles in the category: News
Norway Imposes Ban on AI Chatbots in Elementary Schools
Norway is imposing a strict near-ban on generative AI tools for primary school students in a sweeping effort to protect core skills like reading and math.
Here’s Why Your Apple Watch Won’t Get New Siri AI
Apple has confirmed its new Gemini-powered Siri AI works best on the wrist, but older Apple Watch models are being left behind due to hardware limits.
I got an email today saying my Alexa dot device will become stupid again in another 30 days. 🙂 Since it was next to my TV it was handy if I had questions about a show but didn’t really use it for anything else.
Newer is not better. My Alexa automatically “upgraded” to plus earlier this year. I have a device I call “white noise” and no matter how slowly I said: “Turn on white noise” Alexa would only play music called white noise. I think there was also another issue. I immediately searched out how to remove plus, and then put things back to normal. This is just like Microsoft messing with the start menu, with morons thinking we need or want something different, then breaking something that just worked. Maybe Europe can start developing things so we have choices, besides American tech, that spies on us.